The present invention relates to an apparatus for interrogating a server center such as a telephone apparatus and is more particularly concerned with a public telephone apparatus, of the public payphone type.
Certain apparatuses of this type comprise means for dialing telephone numbers for establishing a telephone link with a server center plugged into a telephone network to which the apparatus is intended to be connected, and means for accessing services hosted in the server center, comprising means for navigating around said services and means for displaying the data supplied by said services and transmitted to the apparatus in response to an action on the navigating means.
This type of telephone apparatus makes it possible on the one hand to obtain a telephone link with a corresponding called party, and, on the other hand, to interrogate services in which are stored information relating, for example, to commercial establishments, such as hotels, restaurants, financial establishments, etc.
It is thus possible, for example, to ascertain the telephone numbers of these establishments, their availabilities and to make a reservation in a particularly simple manner, insofar as these apparatuses may be disposed on the public thoroughfare.
The aim of the invention is to provide an apparatus for interrogating a server center of the aforesaid type, capable furthermore of offering the user a selection of the information contained in the databases, as a function of the geographical area in which the apparatus is situated.
Its subject is therefore an interrogating apparatus- of the aforesaid type, characterized in that it includes means for transmitting to the server center information representative of the geographical location of the apparatus with a view to the selecting, from the said services, of data corresponding to the location of the apparatus.
The user can therefore be provided with very complete information concerning the geographical area in which he is situated.
The apparatus for interrogating a server center according to the invention can furthermore include one or more of the following characteristics taken in isolation or according to all technically possible combinations:
the information representative of the geographical location of the apparatus being stored in a unit for tying the apparatus into a public payphone network, the apparatus includes means for sending a signal for instructing the dispatching, by the tie unit, of said information toward the telephone apparatus;
the apparatus constitutes a public payphone intended to be plugged into a cabled telephone network and equipped with a reader of telecommunications payment chip cards, and includes means for effecting communication with a telephone set of a corresponding called party according to a first communication protocol and with the server center according to a second communication protocol, said protocols using distinct telecommunication channels;
the second communication protocol is a communication protocol with a different tariff relative to the first communication protocol;
said data supplied by the service including telephone numbers of corresponding parties situated in the geographical area of the apparatus, it includes means for selecting said numbers, plugged into means for automatically dialing selected numbers;
said data supplied by the service include data chosen from among data relating to commercial establishments, meteorological data, data relating to sports news or cultural news and data adapted for calling personal or small-scale shared transport vehicles;
the data supplied by the service include information relating to points of sale of telecommunications payment chip cards.